Blue Desert Walls
by GgggVvvv
Summary: Once bound by fear and tradition, Kalari Hepon escapes the constraints of her culture for the wilds of the desert. She is dogged by a servant with a grudge and a resentful hero... of sorts. A crossover loosely based on Pride and Prejudice and the Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery.
1. Chapter I

In a tall tree that towered over the forest, a girl sat singing. She was slim and lithe, with long, sleek dark hair that rippled in the wind. Her amber eyes were sparkling.

And then she had a thought that surprised her. Life is beautiful. She breathed in and out, thought of her life just a week ago. Of the pain and the misery she'd gone through. And yet right now, she was perfectly and brilliantly happy.

She breathed in the fragrant, piney air. Smiled. And then she began to think of her horrible, wild, beautiful life…

Pictures floated through her head, some distant and indistinct, some sharp and clear. Sounds, the memories of sounds, and hands that gently corrected her. The lavish interiors of stately palaces and vistas, alive with voices. Her childhood. So many Kapas, so many servants attending to her. She remembered how they used to watch her. How she had hated her very name—

"Kalari!"

The name was sung out pleasantly, prolonged in its utterance. And yet there was a sharp tilt to it. The face of the woman was faint. It was not she who mattered— she was simply a hired nurse, one in a long line of Kapas.

The child barely lifted her dark, sleek head at the call. She wore a dress of some bright color, and squatted, intent on the wall before her. In her orange eyes there was a fire.

"One day I will escape from this house, find what is outside this garden," she whispered to herself. And then the Kapa came towards the child, and stood for a while watching the her. The Kapa's face was a dark mask, a mask of inward anger. All the scoldings she had never dared give Kalari were welling up in her head.

"Little girl," she said presently, "What could you possibly have in your spoiled head?"

Kalari looked up at her, unperturbed. "Very much, really. And I would not tell you what it is!"

And then she stared into the Kapa's stormy grey eyes. "Pah for you!" Kalari screeched, spitting on the woman. Then she darted away.

But the Kapa followed her, an angry gleam in her eyes. Kalari came up to a maidservant, whispered "Help me!" and scooted under her long dress. The maid did not move. She only stared straight ahead, bewildered.

Then the Kapa, puffing, approached the shocked maid. "Have you seen her?" she bellowed.

"Forgive my ignorance, Madam, but whom do you mean?"

"A little girl. She does not want to do her lesson." She squinted at the maid, certain she was nervous. "I am her Kapa. Speak, girl!"

"Many go by me, Madam. I know not whom you mean. Pray Madam! Forgive me!"

But the Kapa was gazing intently at the maid's skirt. It twitched, and a faint, triumphant snigger could be heard from within. Like a glistening cobra, the Kapa prepared to strike.

In an instant the shocked maid was on the floor. Kalari saw the face of her vehement Kapa looming over her. Before she could sprint away, the Kapa grabbed her arm tightly and shook it. Kalari screeched, enraged. She pounded the Kapa with her free arm. And then the woman hit her…

After that the picture was a blur. Faces, servants surrounding them. Kalari telling her story again and again. Crying, angry. She had looked on that woman with hate in her eyes, determined to have revenge.

And then the trial in the Peace-courts. She could still remember the pronouncement:

"As for you, former Kapa, current drudge-maid Halitha, you shall be stripped of all property and blinded in one eye for your offense. After that, if you serve ten years without complaint as a slave to the family of Kalari Hepon, you may again find work as a servant, but never above the rank of lower drudge-maid. You may never own property or money above five Denatis. (A denati is about two days' wages.) That will be all."

Then the court crier intoned: "All hail the great justice and mercy of our Peace-courts, that such mercy be given to the common man!"

And all the people cried, "Hail!" Except for two. One, of course, was the former Kapa, her eyes full of despair. And the other?

The other was Kalari.


	2. Chapter II

In Kalari's mind, she saw the whirling and turning of gorgeous, bright gowns, waving and spinning as she danced. Her mother's pronouncement: "I don't care about mathematics and literature. She can be the stupidest creature, but she must be graceful and attractive. She needs to make a good match, and however repulsive she really is, must seem delightful to men. Do whatever it takes!"

From the age of ten, that was how Kalari's life unfolded. Dancing lessons, dress fittings, voice lessons… instructors on how to walk, and two dozen maids to dress her. In the middle of it all, Kalari, lonely and lost and wondering.

But she had loved to dance. Not on the arm of a suitor, but freely and wildly. Her instructors were shocked at how Kalari refused the various offers she got, men begging her for a dance. She scorned them.

It was one day when she was seventeen. She remembered how she had been sitting in a tree in the garden, reading.

And chance will come and take its dues

So every heart must pay the price

For wrongs to others it has dealt

Good life be granted the oppressed:

Hear now! They cry, those you have wronged

For life, and breath, beneath your feet

And the unjust will feel that pain

That gladly they to others gave

Kalari shivered as she read it. It was the beginning of an epic written by a former slave. She dropped the tablet and watched as it shattered below her.

"Madam Kalari!" It was a servant's voice, sounding nervous. "Your mother wants you. She is presiding in her chambers."

"Then I will go to her," said Kalari, climbing down from the tree. "Have that cleaned up," she added, pointed to the shattered clay tablet. "And see to it that all the copies of The Epic of Tujda, a Clavdian Slave in our library are destroyed. That is all."

"Yes, Madam." As the servant stooped to pick up the fragments, Kalari walked briskly to her mother's chambers. Her heart was thumping strangely. Perhaps it was an omen…

Kalari's mother looked up from a book as her daughter walked into the room. "Darling!" she cooed, "I've hardly seen you for months. Have you made any conquests lately?"

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, I forgot… you are frightfully stupid in such matters. But I have something to tell you."

"Yes?"

"You probably won't remember, but eight years ago, you were attacked by a vicious Kapa…"

"I remember," whispered Kalari, blanching. "Can we please not speak of it?"

"We must," her mother purred, stroking Karali's hair. "No doubt it was a frightening experience for you, but…"

"It's not that," said Kalari softly. "It's how I acted."

"Yes… you were childish. You are more ladylike now."

Karali sighed but said nothing. I was cruel… she thought. But the judge... that was too harsh, true.

"Well, by course of just law, the Kapa became our slave for ten years," her mother went on. "We sent her to a plantation so she could not harm you. But she has... escaped. We have still to recapture her. Since she has threatened harm to you, we are going to—"

"Going to what? Don't hurt her. It's my fault she's a slave."

"Don't you see? Your life is in danger! So I have arranged to send you to live with the Yedepos in their summer palace. They have a very… oh, never mind that."

"A very eligible young son? I'll only go if forced."

"Well, I will force you, then. The caravan leaves tomorrow." She stood up, began putting away her papers.

"Mother, wait. How long am I to stay?"

"You will never come home unless we find the slave." She paused, studying her daughter. "And my hope is that you shall be settled and never come home— except to visit. Either way—I never wish to see you again. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Mother."

Her mother strode off, walking with an exaggerated air of grace and triumph. She left Kalari with her own thoughts. Wondering.

"And the unjust will feel that pain, that gladly they to others gave." Kalari took a grim pleasure in the thought of penance.

Early in the morning, before the sun peeked into her room, Kalari's maids woke and dressed her.

"Where is she going?" one of them whispered.

"To live with another family. Remember the scandal when a Kapa attacked the mistress? Well, that wicked Kapa has escaped, and the family is sending Miss Kalari off for safety!"

Kalari gave her maids a look that silenced them. Then they dressed her in a blue and ivory white gown and did her hair. Then they tittered over her beauty. Kalari avoided the mirror.

"Now, Madam," said Runa, "You are ready."

Kalari smiled. "Are you three to come with me?"

"Ah yes, Madam, for you must look pretty for the young master, and how will you find decent maidens among those heathen Ligquus?"

"I am glad. Everything will be so different, I was only wishing one thing to stay the same. And now I have found it."

The maid curtsied.

"You may go, all of you."

The maids all curtsied now and left.


	3. Chapter III

Morning passed in caravan litters, muffled grunts below her, mild warmth and maids to fan her.

Kalari wondered why, having this exorbitant amount of money to waste, her family should use it to smother her. She was wrapped in blankets of velvet and peacock down, choked by heavy necklaces. And she was less content than a child playing in the dust.

But she said nothing. She did not talk often anymore. She buried herself in books, both adventures and philosophy. She was sometimes allowed to go out riding, in the morning, heavily cloaked so as not to ruin her social standing. A lady might ride to please a man, but going out overmuch herself was a sign of strongmindedness.

Again there was a gasp below her, and then sharp wheezing. The litter slowed, and grunts of pain resounded. There was a pause as a sharp voice rained chastisements in Kopel. Then haltingly, the litter started again.

"Put me down!" Kalari commanded, voice high and screechy from disuse.

Hesitation. Then she was softly lowered to the ground, glimpsing dusty faces and averted, humble eyes. The men bowed timidly to see her veiled face.

Kalari pushed the veil aside. "Is one of you sick?"

The leader grunted, waving the question away. "By your grace, no. Humble commoners are built of mud and hardened like bricks. They crumble only with the poison of insurrection. Indeed—"

A sharp cough, cut short, interrupted the man's words. He spun around. "Jevill! Always on the lookpoint for noble sympathies! Preying on the woman's heart..."

"Jevill, are you sick?" Kalari queried.

"If the contagion worries ya, it's naught a that. A tittly chill is all, Mum. I'n carry ya well nuf, Mum."

Kalari sighed. He looked rather pathetic, pale with dark-circled eyes, nose raw from being wiped on his tunic. But she hardly had any other options. Her prissy maids couldn't support a litter, not the lot of them. "In that case, we may continue. But I will not force an ill man to carry me. At the next town we will see about a trade out."

Jevill blanched.

"Well," Kalari added. "If... you will not be sold, you know. Simply given over to the apothecary until someone comes for you."

"Ya'mum." He bowed.

She wanted to smile at him, but her mouth was bound.

The litter started again, quickly. Kalari's head jerked, but she stifled her cry. Likely the leadman would blame the roughness on Jevill.

Her maids began to gossip. Kalari listened as she always did. It wasn't wrong, surely, since they did it within her hearing. And she had no real friends, no one to learn about real life from.

"That Jevill is a wonk, true."

"Adar! Lighten your words!" Runa shot a veiled glance at Kalari. "He is— "

"He's a pish. A clank. No, don't say different..."

"And weren't you hanging on his clanky smile a week ago? Ah? Poor thing! You're quite the little fool. He's a sweet looker, true. But remember Mira— "

"Gar! I said he was a— "

"And she said to shut your honker," Metan put in.

"Right true I did." Runa turned away, scornful. Glancing at Kalari, she purred, "Madam? Your will?"

"What?" Kalari feigned surprise. "Oh, I was in reverie. Do as you wish, my needs are met." How stiff she sounded, how formal. She wondered what her intended was like. Would he hate her, or tolerate her... or even like her a bit? If only he'd be the kind of man one could talk to. Nothing more, just talk. All she wanted was intellectual stimulation.

Everyone was so busy and talkative, making the best of being servants in a scorching desert. Kalari could almost hop out of the litter. No one would notice. They would quake to find her missing, true. Losing a mistress would definitely warrant a lashing.

"Madam," said Adar suddenly. "Your mother sent a package with me, to give you halfway through the journey. Do you wish it?"

"Rip," said Kalari.

Runa and Metan turned to stare at her, mouths open a tad. Then they glanced at each other.

"I mean... yes. Look at me, all the little peasant mannerisms." Kalari chuckled. The maids were silent.

Kalari sighed again. The package fell idly to her side. She couldn't stand to think of Mother at the moment.

"You fool, Adar. Halfway through the journey true! I know the Missus said near the beginning," Metan sneered.

"As if anyone will know! And if it were found out, you wouldn't be lashed, would you, Metan? No, just me. You should be glad!"

"Glad you are a pishy fool? I just have to watch my own enlightened head"

Adar groaned, tears near to boiling in her dark eyes.

"Is there a problem?" Kalari asked sharply.

"No, no," chimed Runa and Metan.

"Adar?"

"No-o, I'm perfectly comfortable."

"True?"

"Oh yes, just they are being pishy..." at this the other two stifled sniggers... "And I'm bearing it."

"Good, then. You are doing nicely."

Metan bit her lip, then released it with a loud "chup." She turned to Runa, and the two started whispering like bees buzzing. Adar stared at the patterned fabric of the litter.

"Adar, are you— " Kalari began, but there was a deep, muffled groan from below her.

Then the litter tipped far down in one corner. The maids thudded onto Kalari. Then the thing went tipsy, stabilized a bit, and finally fell crooked atop two writhing bodies.

"It was Jevill, was it not?" Kalari moaned.

"He will be flogged. Ah yes, fear not."

"He will not be flogged." She poked her head out, looking back at the crumpled body. "Put him in the litter."

"With you, madam? If you so desire— "

"No, I will walk. There is no one about. My maids can bear Jevill's lifeless body if they wish."

The man nodded grudgingly. Kalari hopped out with a suppressed grin.


	4. Chapter IV

"Are you finished playing dead now?" asked Runa from inside the litter.

Jevill's groggy voice sounded, sweet, thick, deep. "What happened?"

"Ah, that's what they all say. You toppled the whole litter... and why am I telling you this? You're the one did it."

"I remember blackness... ya know, I was thinking of me ma before I went."

Runa chortled. "Sweet, boy. That's how you tittle the girls, true? Tell them stories of your ma. I can guess what you were thinking."

"But— it was true. Would I lie?"

"Runa—" Adar spoke softly— "He can hardly think of girls all the time."

"Ah, no wonder you're so easily deceived, girl. Jevill, if it pleases you, get out of the litter."

"Of course." He jumped hastily down. Kalari could see his red face.

She poked her head into the litter. "Runa, if it pleases you, use more respect. You are not the leadwoman, and if you were, you'd not be an inspiring one. I'd have to cut you."

Runa gasped. "Whatever to please you, Madam. That's my only motive."

"Harmony pleases me."

"Than harmony you shall have."

"You really do want to be leadwoman."

Runa paled. "I do it for pure joy of serving you."

Kalari turned away, smiling sardonically. Her eyes flickered to Jevill, who wasn't bad-looking for a man. His sickly pallor hung shroud-like over him, but hardly lessened his beauty. She blushed at the thought. It was easy to scorn the silly palace suitors, but a shirtless slave could easily fell her.

He almost... smiled at her. Kalari could hardly tell, but that flicker was something. And she knew it could never be, and she would never want it to be, and she smiled back for smiling's sake.

The caravan stopped. Metan ascended the litter again, looking pointedly at Kalari. "My lady!" she cried. "Come in, so we can fan you."

Kalari stole a glance at Jevill and then hopped in among her maids.

It was almost nightfall when the wall of a small town loomed, dominating the lonely skyline.

Kalari blinked. She was walking again, blessing the cooling sand. The town looked dreamlike. The walls were white stone, covered in fanciful mosaics.

"Madam... you never opened your package," said Adar, holding the small parcel out, then ducking back into the litter after Kalari grasped it. Adar took sunstroke easily.

Kalari tipped open the parcel. There was a note from Mother—

Kalari, daughter—

We've chosen the most eligible and handsome man we know how to find for you. Be grateful... with your looks and spirits, you could do much worse. Here is something to help you think of your dear beloved. I will have you know you are betrothed to him, but are to act as if you are not. He has a good face. He will improve the looks of your many children.

—Kelana Hepon

Kalari laughed. What a note. Her mother was ridiculous.

The portrait inside was a small painting, obviously flattering the subject. He was dark, with silky hair and dark blue Yedepo eyes, slanting slightly. He had firm lips, the slightest bit full, and a heavenly jaw and cheekbones. And her mother had chosen him, so naturally he would be awful.

She stashed the picture in the litter. The maids picked it up and squealed over it.

"Madam—" Metan spoke haltingly— "Perhaps— the sun cannot be good for your complexion—"

"You mean to say, the townsfolk will think me a drudge, not a grand lady, if I insist on walking."

"Madam, with your high born grace, what fool could make that mistake?"

"Oh, heaven's own, I'll enter the litter."

Metan breathed a swift sigh, overjoyed. Kalari settled back on the pillows and tried to nap, but her mind conjured the face in the portrait.

It was a good twenty minutes before they met the gate crier at the Yedepo villa.

"Hail, strangers. Why have you come all this way?"

The lead man was about the reply, but Kalari looked out of the curtain. "I'm Kalari Hepon, here to visit the Yedepos."

"Ah. A very special visitor, true. Betrothed to young Darven?"

Was that his name? "Not to anybody yet, although that is my mother's intent."

"Ah," he laughed, "A woman of strong mind."

"If we must be weaker of body, our minds work even more to survive. A woman may be strong of mind."

"Especially—" he tweaked her cheek— "If she be pretty."

Kalari blushed, though he was middle-aged, bald and paunchy.

"The Yedepos preside in their justice courts for the hour. There you can meet the special one."


End file.
